President 


A  Brief  Historical  Sketch 


* 

/ETNA 

Insurance  Company 

Hartford  Connecticut 


* 


% 


1819-1905 


The  Leading  Fire  Insurance  Company  of  America 


WM.  B.  CLARK,  President 

W.  H.  KING,  Secretary 

A.  C.  ADAMS  C.  J.  IRVIN 

HENRY  E.  REES  A.  N.  WILLIAMS 

Assistant  Secretaries 


iETNA  INSURANCE  COMPANY 
PRINTING  DEPARTMENT 


$13  W.D.ft.  h'Wfcth 


\A 

PRESIDENTS 

>  1 

ju 

THOMAS  K.  BRACE 

1819-1857 

so 

EDWIN  G.  RIPLEY 

1857-1862 

Hy 

O 

THOMAS  A.  ALEXANDER  . 

1862-1866 

LUCIUS  J.  HENDEE 

1866-1888 

JOTHAM  GOODNOW 

1888-1892 

r 

WILLIAM  B.  CLARK  . 

1892- 

< n 
6 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2017  with  funding  from 

University  of  Illinois  Urbana-Champaign  Alternates 


https://archive.org/details/briefhistoricalsOOwood 


C.  J.  IRVIN 
Assistant  Secretary 


W  H.  KING 
Secretary 


A.  C.  ADAMS 
Assistant  Secretary 


A.  N.  WILLIAMS 
Assistant  Secretary 


HENRY  E.  REES 
Assistant  Secretary 


DIRECTORS 

Elected  at  the  Annual  Meeting,  January  19, 1905 

DRAYTON  HILLYER 
NATHANIEL  SHIPMAN 
AUSTIN  C.  DUNHAM 
MORGAN  G.  BULKELEY 
J.  PIERPONT  MORGAN 
ATWOOD  COLLINS 
WILLIAM  B.  CLARK 
FRANCIS  GOODWIN 
CHARLES  E.  GROSS 
JAMES  H.  KNIGHT 
GEORGE  H.  DAY 
CHARLES  P.  COOLEY 


PRESIDENT  SECRETARY 

WM.  B.  CLARK  W.  H.  KING 

ASSISTANT  SECRETARIES 

A.  C.  ADAMS  C.  J.  IRVIN 

HENRY  E.  REES  A.  N.  WILLIAMS 

FINANCE  COMMITTEE 

WILLIAM  B.  CLARK  FRANCIS  GOODWIN 

CHARLES  E.  GROSS  JAMES  H.  KNIGHT 

AUDITORS 

ATWOOD  COLLINS  CHARLES  P.  COOLEY 


SPECIAL  AGENTS 
F.  W.  JENNESS 
C.  H.  HOLLISTER 
W.  A.  WARBURTON 
J.  B.  HUGHES 
OLIVER  H.  KING 
H.  L.  HISCOCK 
H.  O.  KLINE 
H.  B.  SMITH 
PRIOLEAU  ELLIS 
A.  W.  SELKIRK 

E.  C. 


—  Home  Department 

JAMES  S.  MIDDLETON 
F.  W.  MATHEWS 
P.  P.  TUCKER 
CHAS.  H.  PESCAY 
JOS.  M.  BIGGERT 
E.  J.  SLOAN 
E.  S.  ALLEN 
N.  J.  HEYWARD 
JOS.  W.  RUSSELL 
GEO.  W.  MILLS 
FRENCH 


Marine  Department — W.  F.  WHITTELSEY,  Jr.,  Special  Agent 

i 

■p  36176 


WESTERN  BRANCH,  CINCINNATI,  OHIO 

GENERAL  AGENTS 

KEELER  &  GALLAGHER 

J.  E.  DAVIES,  State  Agent,  RACINE,  WIS. 

L.  B.  MANSON,  State  Agent,  LOUISVILLE,  KY. 

W.  E.  VANDEVENTER,  State  Agent,  CHICAGO,  ILL. 

L.  J.  HUBBLE,  Special  Agent,  SPRINGFIELD,  ILL. 

A.  G.  SANDERSON,  State  Agent,  COLUMBUS,  OHIO 

(OHIO  AND  WEST  VIRGINIA) 

WM.  B.  GOODWIN,  Special  Agent,  COLUMBUS,  OHIO 
(WEST  VIRGINIA  and  SOUTHERN  OHIO) 

PAUL  KLINE,  Special  Agent,  COLUMBUS,  OHIO 

(NORTHERN  OHIO) 

GEO.  A.  ARMSTRONG,  State  Agent,  DETROIT,  MICH. 

JAS.  K.  POLK,  State  Agent,  NASHVILLE,  TENN. 

(TENNESSEE  and  ARKANSAS) 

LOUIS  H.  WOLFF,  State  Agent,  INDIANAPOLIS,  IND. 
THOS.  E.  SNYDER,  Special  Agent,  INDIANAPOLIS,  IND. 

CHICAGO  BRANCH,  “Fire,”  and  “Inland  Marine” 

GENERAL  AGENT  ASS’T  GEN.  AGENT 

JAS.  S.  GADSDEN  LOUIS  O.  KOHTZ 


NORTHWESTERN  BRANCH,  OMAHA,  NEBRASKA 

GENERAL  AGENT  ASS’T  GEN.  AGENT 

WM.  H.  WYMAN  W.  P.  HARFORD 


C.  W.  POTTER,  Special  Agent, 
EDGAR  ROSS, 

H.  R.  ENSIGN, 

W.  A.  HAND, 

E.  W.  TATMAN, 

C.  R.  ELGAS, 

H.  C.  UPHAM, 

W.  J.  TIPPERY, 


DENVER,  COLO. 

KANSAS  CITY,  MO. 
MINNEAPOLIS,  MINN. 
DES  MOINES,  IOWA 
TOPEKA,  KANSAS 
LINCOLN,  NEBRASKA 
OKLAHOMA  CITY,  OKLA. 
FARGO,  N.  D. 


* 


PACIFIC  BRANCH,  SAN  FRANCISCO,  CALIFORNIA 

GENERAL  AGENTS 

BOARDMAN  &  SPENCER 
E.  C.  MORRISON,  Superintendent  of  Agencies 
SPECIAL  AGENTS 

LOUIS  MEL  W.  L.  GAZZAM  J.  A.  MURPHY 


In  1897,  a  very  interesting  work, 
in  four  volumes,  entitled  “The  New 
England  States,”  was  published  by 
Messrs.  D.  H.  Hurd  &  Co.  of  Boston, 
the  second  volume  being  in  part 
devoted  to  the  History  of  Insurance 
in  Connecticut,  which  latter  was 
compiled  from  the  records  of  the 
Companies  by  Mr.  P.  H.  Woodward 
of  this  city. 

From  this  History,  by  permission 
of  Mr.  D.  H.  Hurd,  the  Publisher, 
and  Mr.  Woodward,  the  Author,  we 
make  extracts,  which  are  embodied 
in  these  pages. 

w.  b.  c. 


HISTORY 


HE  JEtna  Insurance  Company  was  incorporated 
at  the  May  Session  of  the  Legislature 
of  Connecticut,  in  1819,  with  a  Capital  of 
$150,000 ;  with  privilege  to  increase  to  an 
amount  not  exceeding  $500,000. 

Subscribers  were  required  to  pay  within 
thirty  days  after  the  first  meeting  of  the  corporation, 
five  per  cent. ;  within  sixty  days,  five  per  cent,  more, 
and  the  remaining  ninety  per  cent,  either  in  mortgages 
on  real  estate,  or  indorsed  promissory  notes,  approved 
by  the  President  and  Directors,  and  payable  thirty 
days  after  demand.  Each  stockholder  was  entitled  to 
one  vote  for  every  share  up  to  fifty,  and  there  his 
voting  power  came  abruptly  to  an  end. 

At  the  first  meeting  of  the  stockholders,  held  June 
15,  1819,  at  Morgan’s  Coffee  House,  the  following 
Directors  were  chosen:  Thomas  K.  Brace,  Thomas 
Belden,  Samuel  Tudor,  Jr.,  Henry  Kilbourn,  Eliphalet 
Averill,  Henry  Seymour,  Griffin  Stedman,  Gaius 
Lyman,  Judah  Bliss,  Caleb  Pond,  Nathaniel  Bunce, 
Joseph  Morgan,  Jeremiah  Brown,  James  M.  Goodwin, 
Theodore  Pease,  Elisha  Dodd,  Charles  Babcock. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Directors  the  same  day, 
Thomas  K.  Brace  was  chosen  President,  and  Isaac 
Perkins,  Secretary.  They  voted  to  make  the  office  of 
Mr.  Perkins  the  office  of  the  Company  also,  and  to 
keep  its  account  at  the  Phoenix  Bank.  By-laws  were 
adopted  June  25th.  These  provided  that  the  Directors 
should  be  divided  into  four  classes,  taken  in  the  order  of 


/Etna  Insurance  Company 

appointment,  each  to  be  on  duty  one  month,  following 
in  rotation.  No  money  could  be  drawn  from  bank 
except  on  checks  signed  by  the  President  and  counter¬ 
signed  by  the  Secretary.  Directors  were  made  ex-officio 
surveyors  for  the  Company. 

How  modest  the  beginnings  of  this  Company 
were,  appears  from  the  balance  sheet  presenting  its 
operations  up  to  May  31,  1821.  On  the  debit  side 
the  principal  item  is  the  dividend  of  six  per  cent., 
declared  December  15,  1819,  on  the  actual  cash  invest¬ 
ment,  making  $900.  From  the  organization  till  May 
31,  1820,  the  total  current  expenses,  including  $225  for 
the  salary  of  Mr.  Perkins  and  rent,  reached  the  sum 
of  $451.82.  During  this  period  the  receipts  from  all 
sources  amounted  to  $3,646.42;  and  as  no  losses  had 
occurred,  the  fiscal  year  closed  with  a  profit  balance 
of  $2,294.60. 

The  first  policy,  for  $6,000,  was  issued  August  17, 
1819,  and  is  treasured  among  the  choice  possessions  of 
the  office.  About  a  month  later,  the  JEtna  contracted 
to  assume  all  outstanding  risks  of  the  Middletown  Fire 
Insurance  Company,  amounting  as  it  seems  to  nearly 
$200,000.  This  was  the  first  case  of  reinsurance  of  a 
company  in  the  State,  and  is  believed  to  be  the  first 
in  the  country. 

Questions  discussed  and  passed  upon  at  early  meet¬ 
ings  of  the  Directors  often  appear  trivial;  but  are  none 
the  less  instructive  because  trivial,  for  they  furnish 
data  for  measuring  the  length  of  the  road  from  crude, 
tentative  beginnings  to  the  development  of  a  highly 
educated  profession.  Matters  of  detail  are  now  turned 
over  to  the  experts,  who  fill  the  executive  offices,  and 
to  their  trained  assistants.  Then  the  vital  parts  of 
each  policy,  with  the  survey,  were  read  to  the  Board 
before  delivery.  Within  eight  months  they  wisely 
voted  to  take  no  new  risk  in  excess  of  $10,000  without 


10 


A  Brief  Historical  Sketch 


a  unanimous  vote  in  its  favor,  and  in  such  cases  nine 
were  required  to  constitute  a  quorum.  The  next  year 
an  agent  was  authorized  to  write  not  exceeding  $17,000 
on  a  single  risk,  and  it  is  specially  noted  that  nine 
Directors  were  present  and  favored  the  exception. 

Until  the  formation  of  the  .Etna,  the  few  American 
companies  in  existence  restricted  their  efforts  almost 
entirely  to  the  local  business  that  could  be  conveniently 
secured  by  the  executive  officers.  Very  early  the 
^Etna  initiated  a  radical  departure  from  the  previous 
method,  planting  agencies  cautiously  at  the  more 
important  centres  of  trade,  and  gradually  extending 
the  system  till  every  desirable  place  in  the  country  was 
occupied.  Fires  in  1827,  as  measured  by  the  losses  of 
insurance  companies,  were  in  excess  of  the  normal  ratio. 

Perils  so  thickened  around  the  ^Etna  that  only 
the  Roman  courage  of  the  Directors  saved  it  from 
destruction.  A  committee,  appointed  to  devise  ways 
and  means  to  pay  losses,  made  their  report,  November 
22,  1827,  and  recommended  that  the  bank  stocks, 
having  a  par  value  of  $21,750,  be  sold,  except  $1,500 
in  the  Eagle  Bank  of  Providence ;  that  all  loans, 
amounting  to  $6,780,  be  collected  as  soon  as  it  could 
be  done  without  inconvenience  to  borrowers,  and  that 
agents  be  pressed  to  remit  balances  on  hand.  From 
the  three  sources  it  was  thought  that  $80,000  could  be 
raised  in  time  to  apply  on  outstanding  losses.  For  the 
balance  needed  it  was  considered  inexpedient  to  make 
an  assessment  on  the  stock- notes.  Accordingly,  they 
further  recommended  that  loans  be  made  at  one  or 
more  of  the  city  banks  on  paper  indorsed  by  some  of 
the  Directors,  and  that  the  Board  pledge  themselves  to 
save  the  indorsers  harmless.  By  a  unanimous  vote  the 
report  was  accepted  and  approved. 

Thus  the  first  dread  crisis  in  the  history  of  the 
^Etna  was  faced.  From  time  to  time  other  situations 


ii 


/Etna  Insurance  Company 

not  less  appalling  have  confronted  the  management. 
While  the  constituent  members  have  changed,  the  spirit 
animating  the  body  has  never  changed.  Calamities, 
sweeping  away  its  assets  and  apparently  leaving  nothing 
but  a  shadow  bereft  of  substance,  have  again  and 
again  been  met  with  the  same  indomitable  resolution 
and  overcome. 

Owing  to  the  disorganized  condition  of  business, 
the  moral  hazard  was  greatly  increased.  The  Hitna 
appointed  committees  to  confer  with  other  offices  which 
were  undergoing  like  experiences;  and,  by  mutual 
agreements,  there  followed  before  the  end  of  the  year 
a  general  raising  of  rates.  Perhaps  to-day  this  course 
would  be  stigmatized  by  a  certain  class  of  writers  as 
a  dangerous  combination,  but  it  saved  the  lives  of  such 
as  survived. 

After  paying  out  the  funds  derived  from  the  sale 
of  stocks  and  the  collection  of  loans,  the  Company 
pledged  to  various  banks,  stock- notes  to  the  amount  of 
$50,000  as  security  for  loans.  Before  these  were  fully 
paid,  its  condition  had  so  improved  that  in  June, 
1830,  the  Directors  voted  a  dividend  of  two  dollars  per 
share. 

Isaac  Perkins  retired  in  June,  1828.  He  practiced 
law  in  Hartford  from  1805  till  1840,  serving  for  two 
years  as  prosecuting  officer  for  the  county.  For  a 
while  he  was  in  partnership  with  Thomas  C.  Perkins, 
who  became  one  of  the  most  eminent  lawyers  in 
the  State.  For  the  first  nine  years  the  business  of  the 
Company  was  transacted  in  the  office  of  Mr.  Perkins. 
His  salary  fluctuated,  rising  in  1823  and  1824  to  the  rate 
of  $900  per  annum,  with  an  allowance  of  $100  additional 
for  rent  and  firewood,  and  afterwards  receding  to  $750. 
In  lieu  of  salary  he  was  voted  four  dollars  per  day  while 
absent  on  the  trip  to  Mobile,  whence  he  reached  home 
about  the  middle  of  March,  1828. 


12 


A  Brief  Historical  Sketch 


June  9,  1828,  James  M.  Goodwin  was  appointed 
Secretary,  and  served  till  May  1,  1837,  when  his  resig¬ 
nation  of  April  24th  took  effect.  June  8,  1837,  Simeon 
L.  Loomis,  who  for  several  years  had  been  a  faithful, 
clerk  in  the  office,  was  elected  in  place  of  Mr.  Goodwin. 

Dividends  of  one  dollar  per  share  were  paid  with 
fair  regularity  from  June,  1831,  till  December,  1834, 
when  the  rate  was  increased  to  five  dollars.  By  May, 
1836,  the  situation  had  so  improved  that  the  Board 
voted  a  dividend  of  twenty-five  per  cent,  to  be  applied 
on  the  stock-notes.  Meanwhile  the  investment  of 
funds  was  resumed,  including  a  subscription  for  three 
hundred  shares  in  the  Hartford  and  New  Haven  Rail¬ 
road,  in  the  year  1835. 

The  .Etna  was  the  first  company  to  issue  a  fire 
insurance  policy  in  Chicago,  having,  in  1834,  appointed 
Gurdon  S.  Hubbard  to  represent  it.  The  document  was 
on  exhibition  in  the  historical  library  of  that  city  until 
destroyed  in  the  fire  of  1871.  Mr.  Hubbard  remained 
a  trusted  agent  of  the  Company  until  his  retirement, 
after  more  than  thirty  years  of  faithful  service. 

No  small  part  of  the  pioneer  work  was  performed 
by  the  early  Director,  who  traveled  west  and  south  by 
stage  and  boat,  long  in  advance  of  railways,  estab¬ 
lishing  outposts  at  frontier  towns  which  have  since 
developed  into  populous  cities.  In  this  way,  to  a 
large  extent,  Cincinnati,  Detroit,  Chicago,  Louisville, 
St.  Louis,  Memphis,  Natchez,  New  Orleans,  Mobile,  and 
other  places  were  reached,  and  the  territory  partially 
preempted.  He  went  armed  with  ample  powers,  his 
instructions  following  in  essential  features  the  com¬ 
mission  given  to  Mr.  Brace  in  1838.  In  case  of  large 
fires,  the  work  now  performed  by  the  professional 
adjuster  then  fell  to  the  Director.  As  emergencies 
arose,  different  members  of  the  Board  were  selected  for 
special  services  at  points  near  and  far.  Some  became 


13 


/Etna  Insurance  Company 

very  expert  in  discriminating  just  from  unjust  claims, 
and  in  effecting  settlements  with  all  sorts  and  condi¬ 
tions  of  men. 

During  the  period  of  infancy,  while  the  Company 
was  fighting  for  existence,  the  economical  scale  of 
expenditures  arranged  for  Secretary  Perkins  on  his 
initiatory  trip  through  New  England  was  rigorously 
adhered  to.  Just  twenty  years  later,  in  1842,  Joseph 
Morgan,  one  of  the  original  Directors,  made  an  extensive 
circuit,  taking  in  New  Orleans  and  Chicago,  and  all  the 
important  intermediate  towns.  The  journey,  estimated 
at  six  thousand  one  hundred  and  four  miles,  occupied 
ten  weeks,  at  an  average  expense,  including  fares  and 
hotel  bills,  of  $3.29  per  day.  During  most  of  his  long 
life,  Mr.  Morgan  kept  a  diary.  The  record,  filling 
many  volumes,  is  now  in  possession  of  his  grandson, 
James  J.  Goodwin.  Chicago  then  had  four  or  five 
thousand  inhabitants.  St.  Louis  was  six  times  as 
large.  A  notable  incident  of  the  trip  was  a  detour 
to  Ashland  to  visit  Henry  Clay.  Mr.  Morgan  was 
called  on  oftener  than  either  of  his  associates  to 
do  this  kind  of  work.  He  was  the  father  of  Junius  S. 
Morgan,  the  eminent  London  banker,  and  grandfather 
of  J.  Pierpont  Morgan,  whose  more  than  royal  power 
in  financial  circles  has  been  used  effectively  to  purify 
American  railway  management,  and  to  rehabilitate  great 
properties  wrecked  by  incompetence  and  fraud.  Three 
generations  have  been  successively  represented  in  the 
directory  by  Joseph,  Junius  S.  and  J.  Pierpont  Morgan. 

By  an  amendment  to  the  charter  secured  in  1839, 
the  Company  was  empowered  to  issue  policies  against 
the  hazards  of  inland  navigation.  The  privilege  was 
not  exercised  till  the  autumn  of  1843,  when  the  Directors 
authorized  agents  at  Apalachicola,  Savannah,  Macon, 
Columbus,  Mobile,  New  Orleans,  Natchez  and  Louis¬ 
ville,  to  take  risks  on  cargoes  on  board  of  steamers 


14 


STATE  STREET  OFFICE  OF  THE  /ETNA  INSURANCE  COMPANY 
FROM  1835  UNTIL  SEPTEMBER,  1867 


A  Brief  Historical  Sketch 


and  pole  boats,  but  not  on  the  boats  themselves,  nor 
on  the  cargoes  loaded  on  “that  species  of  craft  called 
boxes,  arks  or  broadhorns.”  A  policy  issued  October 
4,  1859,  at  the  rate  of  one -half  per  cent.,  on  fifteen 
negroes,  valued  at  $16,000,  bound  from  Glasgow,  Mo., 
to  Carrollton,  Miss.,  is  still  preserved  at  the  home 
office  as  a  curiosity  of  inland  insurance. 

Affairs  had  so  improved  that  in  November,  1848, 
the  Board  declared  a  dividend  of  eighteen  per  cent. — 
eight  in  cash,  and  ten  to  be  indorsed  on  the  stock-notes. 

The  HEtna  escaped  the  fire  of  December  16,  1835, 
in  New  York  city — the  first  in  the  series  of  great 
American  conflagrations — which  destroyed  property  to 
the  value  of  $15,000,000,  and  bankrupted  twenty- three 
out  of  twenty-six  local  insurance  companies.  It  entered 
the  city  the  following  year,  having  for  agent  Augustus 
G.  Hazard,  afterwards  the  organizer  and  president  of 
the  Hazard  Powder  Company,  of  Enfield.  It  was  not 
so  fortunate  in  the  fire  of  1845,  which  swept  $6,000,000 
of  property  from  the  business  centre  of  the  metropolis, 
and  cost  the  JE tna  $115,000.  When  the  news  reached 
Hartford,  Mr.  Brace  called  together  the  Directors,  and 
told  them  that  the  calamity  would  probably  exhaust  the 
entire  resources  of  the  Company.  Going  to  the  fire¬ 
proof  safe,  he  took  out  and  laid  on  the  table  the  stocks 
and  bonds  representing  its  investments.  Little  was 
said,  each  member  waiting  for  some  one  else  to  take  the 
initiative.  At  length,  the  silence  was  broken  by  the 
question:  “Mr.  Brace,  what  will  you  do?” 

“Do?”  replied  he.  “Go  to  New  York  and  pay  the 
losses  if  it  takes  every  dollar  there,”  pointing  to  the 
packages,  “and  my  own  fortune  besides.” 

“Good,  good,”  responded  the  others.  “We  will 
stand  by  you  with  our  fortunes  also.” 

Such  an  increase  of  premium  receipts  followed,  that 
in  twelve  months  the  JEtna  was  as  strong  in  cash  as 


15 


/Etna  Insurance  Company 


before.  In  March,  1848,  a  dividend  of  twenty  dollars  a 
share,  amounting  to  $50,000,  was  indorsed  on  the  stock- 
notes,  and  the  money  invested  in  solid  securities,  some 
of  which  the  Company  still  holds.  Hitherto,  it  had 
been  forced  again  and  again  to  part  with  favorite  invest¬ 
ments  to  pay  losses;  but  here  when  about  to  enter  upon 
the  last  half  of  the  century,  the  somewhat  periodical 
distresses  due  to  smallness  of  resources  passed  away  for 
good.  In  February,  1849,  the  Board  declared  a  dividend 
of  twenty  per  cent.,  applicable  only  to  the  payment  of 
the  third  and  last  installment  upon  the  stock-notes.  By 
this  operation  these  were  finally  extinguished. 

Fifty  thousand  dollars  were  added  to  the  original 
capital  in  December,  1822.  The  Secretary  was  authorized 
to  offer  the  new  stock  at  an  advance  of  five  dollars  on 
a  share,  not  pro  rata  to  holders  of  record,  but  “in  such 
number  of  shares  and  to  such  persons  as  in  his  opinion 
may  be  most  for  the  interest  of  the  Company.” 

In  1846,  in  conformity  with  a  vote  passed  the  30th 
of  the  previous  December,  $50,000  were  added,  one-half 
payable  in  cash  or  its  equivalent,  and  one-half  in  the 
customary  installment  notes.  In  July,  1849,  a  third 
increase  of  $50,000  was  voted,  to  be  paid  in  cash  or 
indorsed  notes,  running  not  more  than  eighteen  months. 
Thus  the  Company  turned  the  middle  of  the  century 
with  a  fully  paid  capital  of  $300,000. 

January  1,  1849,  the  JE tna  owned  bonds  and  stocks 
valued  at  $269,550.  Thirteen  months  later,  with  $50,000 
of  fresh  capital  in  the  treasury,  its  assets  amounted 
to  $456,327.46,  and  its  liability  for  losses  to  $141,344. 
In  the  interim  it  disbursed  $125,000  for  a  single  fire  in 
St.  Louis. 

But  the  season  of  storms  which  culminated  at 
St.  Louis,  and  sent  many  competitors  to  the  bottom, 
convinced  the  public  of  the  inherent  staunchness  of  the 
HEtna;  and  by  the  prudent  enterprise  of  its  managers, 


16 


A  Brief  Historical  Sketch 


even  cruel  reverses  to  the  general  interests  of  fire 
insurance  were  made  to  bring  to  it  large  accessions  of 
business  and  revenue. 

The  Protection,  the  third  fire  insurance  company 
organized  at  Hartford,  failed  in  1854  through  the 
continuous  unprofitableness  of  its  marine  department, 
aggravated  by  the  incurable  injuries  received  at  St. 
Louis  in  1849.  It  had  been  the  pioneer  in  occupying 
the  small  as  well  as  the  large  towns  of  the  West,  but  the 
gains  from  these  sources  were  insufficient  to  offset  the 
losses  incurred  at  sea  and  on  our  inland  waters.  Here 
was  a  broad  gap  to  be  filled,  and  the  Hitna  lost  no  time 
in  meeting  the  emergency;  for  it  opened  a  branch  office 
at  Cincinnati  in  1853,  with  the  firm  purpose  of  keeping 
step  with  civilization  in  progressive  occupancy  of  the 
West.  When  a  few  months  later  the  Protection  yielded 
up  the  ghost,  a  material  share  of  the  business  dropped 
as  ripened  fruit  into  the  lap  of  its  rival.  Soon  a 
thousand  agents  were  at  work  west  of  the  Alleghanies ; 
and  in  the  ensuing  period  of  exemption  from  large 
fires,  the  Company  rolled  up  wealth  with  a  rapidity 
never  equaled  before  either  in  the  United  States  or 
elsewhere. 

In  1854  the  capital  was  increased  from  $300,000  to 
$500,000,  one-half  contributed  by  shareholders  and  the 
other  half  by  a  dividend  from  profits.  The  figures 
remained  at  this  point  but  a  short  time,  for  in  1857  they 
were  changed  to  an  even  million.  In  1859,  from  the 
profits  of  two  years,  the  owners  were  gladdened  by  a 
second  stock  dividend  of  half  a  million,  which  was 
followed  in  1864  by  another  for  $750,000;  thus  making 
it  $2,250,000,  at  which  the  capital  remained  until  1866, 
when  it  was  raised  by  a  stock  dividend  to  the  sum 
of  $3,000,000.  Ambition  to  make  the  ^Etna  the  largest 
fire  insurance  company  in  the  country  led  the  stock¬ 
holders  in  1881,  by  an  issue  of  ten  thousand  new  shares 


/Etna  Insurance  Company 


at  par  for  cash,  to  enlarge  the  capital  to  four  millions, 
where  it  now  stands. 

In  1851  the  Company  appointed  its  first  traveling 
or  special  agent,  A.  F.  Willmarth,  who  a  few  months 
later  was  made  Assistant  Secretary,  but  soon  left. 
The  position  of  Assistant  Secretary,  evidently  created 
for  Mr.  Willmarth,  remained  vacant  except  during  the 
brief  incumbency  of  Jonathan  Goodwin,  Jr.,  appointed 
in  1868,  when  it  was  permanently  revived  in  1867 
on  the  accession  of  William  B.  Clark  to  the  official 
corps. 

Thomas  Kimberly  Brace,  through  whose  influence 
and  exertions  mainly  the  ^Etna  was  brought  into 
existence,  warned  by  the  infirmities  of  age,  resigned 
the  Presidency  in  1857,  and  died  June  14,  1860,  in 
his  eighty -first  year.  Stephen  Brace  (Bracey),  the 
emigrant  ancestor,  came  from  London  and  settled  in 
Hartford.  His  grandson,  Lieutenant  Jonathan,  moved 
to  Harwinton  in  1738;  Jonathan,  Jr.,  was  born  in 
Harwinton,  November  12,  1754,  graduated  at  Yale 
College  in  1779,  studied  law,  acquired  a  large  practice 
in  Central  Vermont,  but  returned  to  Connecticut,  and 
after  residing  in  Glastonbury  for  a  short  time  took  up 
his  permanent  abode  in  Hartford  in  1794.  He  was  in 
public  life  forty-two  years,  less  from  choice  than  from 
solicitation  of  his  fellow-citizens. 

Thomas  K.  Brace  was  born  October  16,  1779, 
graduated  at  Yale  College  in  1801,  and  settling  in 
Hartford,  built  up  the  wholesale  grocery  house  of  T.  K. 
Brace  &  Co.  He  was  mayor  of  the  city,  1840-43,  and 
in  the  latter  year  consented  to  run  for  Congress  on  the 
Whig  ticket,  but  was  beaten  by  Colonel  Thomas  H. 
Seymour.  He  was  nominated  for  a  subsequent  term, 
but  declined  in  favor  of  James  Dixon,  who  was  elected. 
Mr.  Brace  belonged  to  the  safe  and  trusty  order  of  men 
to  whom  others  instinctively  turned  for  guidance. 


18 


EDWIN  G.  RIPLEY 
President  1857-1862 


THOS.  A.  ALEXANDER 
President  1862-1866 


THOS.  K.  BRACE 
President  1819-1857 


LUCIUS  J.  HENDEE 
President  1866-1888 


JOTHAM  GOODNOW 
President  1888-1892 


FORMER  PRESIDENTS  /ETNA  INSURANCE  COMPANY 


A  Brief  Historical  Sketch 


Edwin  G.  Ripley  succeeded  Mr.  Brace,  August  4, 

1857.  A  New  Hampshire  boy,  Mr.  Ripley  emigrated 
to  Hartford,  where  he  learned  the  details  of  business 
in  the  establishment  of  T.  K.  Brace  &  Co.  Later  he 
became  partner  of  his  uncle,  Philip  Ripley,  in  the  iron 
trade.  He  was  elected  Secretary  of  the  JE tna  in  June, 

1858,  and  Vice-President  a  year  later.  He  died  August 
26, 1862.  Quiet  but  forceful,  his  words  were  few,  direct 
and  convincing.  He  was  one  of  the  first  to  see  the 
need  of  storing  up  reserves  wherewith  to  meet  the 
heavy  drains  of  hard  times,  and  to  open  book  accounts 
with  different  classes  of  risks  with  a  view  to  learn  the 
average  cost  of  carrying  each. 

On  the  10th  of  September  following,  Thomas  A.  . 
Alexander  was  elected  President,  and  held  the  position 
until  his  death,  March  29,  1866 ;  although,  broken  in 
health  by  continuous  labor,  he  had  resigned  the  previous 
October.  Mr.  Alexander  entered  the  service  of  the 
^Etna  as  a  clerk  in  its  New  York  agency  in  March,  1848. 
Upon  the  resignation  of  A.  G.  Hazard  in  July,  1845, 
he  was  promoted  to  fill  the  vacancy.  He  moved  to 
Hartford  in  November,  1858,  to  take  the  Secretaryship 
of  the  Company.  Having  nearly  reached  the  term  of 
threescore  years  and  ten,  he  died  at  Bergen,  N.  J., 
greatly  respected  and  lamented. 

In  April,  1852,  Chillicothe,  Ohio,  called  for  $115,000, 
and  three  months  later,  Montreal  took  $105,000.  For 
the  next  ten  years  the  Company  enjoyed  remarkable 
immunity  from  large  losses,  considering  the  extent  and 
magnitude  of  its  business.  With  the  turn  of  the  tide, 
even  the  $168,000  required  to  settle  the  Portland  claims 
in  July,  1866,  and  the  $120,000  sent  to  Vicksburg  in 
January,  1867,  did  not  perceptibly  interrupt  the  increase 
of  assets. 

Strangely  enough,  the  phenomenal  prosperity  of 
the  Company  provoked  internal  dissensions  in  regard  to 


19 


/Etna  Insurance  Company 


the  disposition  of  profits.  A  party  among  the  stock¬ 
holders,  strong  in  number  and  influence,  strenuously 
resisted  the  policy  of  accumulating  a  reinsurance  fund. 
Any  deviation  from  the  early  practice  of  treating  a 
premium  as  fully  earned  the  instant  it  reached  the 
treasury,  was  denounced  as  a  “new-fangled”  notion 
without  justification  in  theory  or  fact.  They  demanded 
a  distribution  of  all  earnings,  either  in  cash  or  in  new 
shares,  which  the  recipient  could  convert  into  cash. 
Reserves  for  reinsurance  were  not  then  required  by 
law.  Warned  by  the  practices  and  consequent  failure 
of  the  Protection,  the  managers  of  the  Effna,  long 
in  advance  of  legislative  action,  saw  the  fallacy  of 
the  reasoning  and  the  danger  of  the  method.  They 
urged  that  over  and  above  the  capital,  an  insurance 
company  should  have  a  fund  large  enough  to  reinsure 
its  outstanding  risks.  This  view  is  now  universally 
enforced  by  law  and  has  become  a  truism  of  the 
trade,  but  early  advocacy  of  the  doctrine  raised  a 
tempest  around  the  officers  of  the  ^Etna.  Fortunately 
they  were  supported  by  the  dominant  Directors  and  won 
the  fight.  The  decision  of  that  controversy  played  a 
large  part  in  giving  to  Hartford  its  preeminence  in 
underwriting. 

A  dealer,  struck  by  the  frequency  of  fires  among 
his  customers,  asked  Mr.  Ripley  if  the  Company  made 
money  on  paper  mills.  He  could  not  answer  the 
question,  but  like  Paul  on  the  road  to  Damascus,  saw 
a  bright  light.  Several  years  in  advance  of  competitors 
he  began  to  arrange  statistics  in  regard  to  relative 
hazards,  and  the  task  has  been  extended  to  cover  every 
kind  of  risk.  Upon  the  fulness  and  accuracy  of  the 
record  must  rest  the  claims  of  underwriting  to  a 
scientific  basis,  including  the  fairness  with  which  the 
burden  of  losses  is  distributed  by  means  of  a  justly 
graduated  scale  of  premiums. 


20 


A  Brief  Historical  Sketch 


In  1853,  the  general  agent  of  the  ^Etna  at  Cincinnati 
prepared  the  first  blank  proof  of  loss.  In  substantially 
the  original  form  it  has  since  come  into  universal  use. 

Not  content  with  furnishing  indemnity  to  an  ever 
widening  circle  of  patrons,  the  .Etna  initiated  the  work 
of  educating  the  public  in  art  by  publishing  the  first 
chromo  poster  in  1855.  The  picture  represented  a 
steamer  throwing  a  stream  of  water  upon  a  burning 
block. 

The  Company  was  the  first  to  introduce  the  use  of 
outline  charts  in  1857.  Out  of  this  germ  grew  the 
Sanborn  maps,  now  an  essential  part  of  the  equipment 
of  all  large  offices. 

As  far  back  as  September,  1819,  the  JEt na  issued 
a  book  of  instructions  for  the  use  of  its  agents.  It 
classified  risks,  fixing  the  rate  for  each,  and  excluded 
some  as  non-insurable.  It  insisted  upon  correct 
surveys  as  serving  to  expose  frauds,  prevent  lawsuits, 
and  secure  truthfulness.  Buildings  and  fixtures  were 
not  to  be  estimated  above  their  worth  in  cash,  and  any 
proposal  for  more  was  of  itself  a  cause  of  suspicion. 
The  rule  was  not  to  be  enforced  against  personal 
property,  merchandise,  etc.,  which  was  liable  to  vary 
in  kind  and  quantity.  The  insured  was  entitled  to  no 
more  than  the  value  of  the  property  proved  to  have  been 
destroyed.  The  correctness  of  the  rules  laid  down  in  this 
little  book  (believed  to  be  the  oldest  of  the  kind  in  the 
country)  has  never  been  successfully  assailed,  though 
attempts  for  the  encouragement  of  robbery  have  been 
made  through  valued-policy  laws  and  other  schemes. 

In  April,  1866,  Lucius  J.  Hendee  was  elected  Presi¬ 
dent;  Jotham  Goodnow,  Secretary.  November  20,  1867, 
William  B.  Clark  was  appointed  Assistant  Secretary. 

In  1835  the  Company  bought  of  William  H.  Imlay, 
for  $9,570,  a  lot  on  the  north  side  of  State  street,  and 
proceeded  to  erect  the  block  now  containing  three 


21 


/Etna  Insurance  Company 

stores,  numbered  134-142.  For  its  office  it  occupied  No. 
134  till  the  completion,  in  1867,  of  its  brown -stone 
building  on  Main  street. 

By  the  Chicago  fire  of  1871,  the  Etna  lost  $3,782,000 
To  meet  the  impairment  the  capital  was  reduced  one- 
half,  and  immediately  refilled  by  cash  payments  of 
$1,500,000.  Thirteen  months  afterward  the  Boston  fire 
absorbed  $1,635,067  more,  and  the  inroad  was  made 
good  by  a  further  contribution  of  $1,000,000  from  the 
shareholders,  making  $2,500,000  furnished  by  them 
in  a  year  to  maintain  the  technical  solvency  of  the 
Company.  After  deducting  the  losses  at  Chicago,  over 
$2,600,000  of  assets  were  left  in  the  treasury  exclusive 
of  fresh  contributions. 

Mr.  Hendee  passed  away  September  4,  1888,  aged 
seventy.  He  was  born  in  Andover,  Conn.,  July  13, 
1818.  He  assisted  his  uncle,  Abner  Hendee,  in  his  store 
in  Hebron,  from  1836  to  1852,  when  he  succeeded  to  the 
business.  Both  uncle  and  nephew  were  faithful  and 
trusted  agents  of  the  .Etna.  While  living  in  Hebron, 
Lucius  J.  took  deep  interest  in  the  political  controversies 
that  led  up  to  the  war,  serving  as  State  Senator  in  1856, 
and  as  State  Treasurer  three  terms,  1858-61.  July  3, 
1861,  he  was  elected  Secretary  of  the  Etna,  and  in 
April,  1866,  President  —  in  both  cases  succeeding  Mr. 
Alexander.  LTnder  his  administration  the  great  reverses 
at  Chicago  and  Boston  were  met.  After  paying  nearly 
$5,500,000  to  the  sufferers  from  those  two  fires  alone, 
the  Company  came  out  of  the  ordeal  stauncher  and 
with  higher  credit  than  ever  before.  Sincere  and 
upright,  genial  and  gentle,  Mr.  Hendee  was  beloved  by 
his  associates  both  in  office  and  out. 

September  26,  1888,  Jotham  Goodnow  was  elected 
President;  William  B.  Clark,  Vice-President;  Captain 
Andrew  C.  Bayne,  Secretary;  and  James  F.  Dudley  and 
William  H.  King,  Assistant  Secretaries. 


22 


OFFICE  OF  THE  /tzTNA  INSURANCE  COMPANY 
1867  1903 


A  Brief  Historical  Sketch 


Mr.  Goodnow  died  suddenly,  November  19,  1892, 
at  the  age  of  seventy-one.  He  came  from  Fall  River 
to  Hartford  in  1856,  was  bookkeeper  in  the  Hartford 
Bank  till  1864,  when  he  went  to  Rockville  as  cashier 
of  the  First  National  Bank.  Soon  after,  he  accepted 
the  cashiership  of  the  City  Bank  of  New  Haven,  and 
in  1866  the  Secretaryship  of  the  H£tna.  His  most 
impressive  characteristic  was  unswerving  devotion  to 
what  he  believed  to  be  right.  He  detested  evil-doing 
and  fraud  under  all  forms  and  guises.  Love  of  right 
sometimes  made  him  appear  unduly  intolerant  of 
wrong.  He  served  in  the  Common  Council,  not  because 
the  position  was  agreeable,  but  from  a  desire  to  promote 
public  welfare.  The  positions  he  held  best  indicate  the 
estimate  placed  by  others  upon  his  capacity. 

Erastus  J.  Bassett,  adjuster  for  the  HStna  since 
1862,  and  widely  known  for  his  skill  in  the  profession, 
died  July  27,  1891,  at  the  age  of  seventy- one.  Andrew 
C.  Bayne  followed,  October  12,  1898.  Although  born  in 
Scotland,  he  entered  the  military  service  of  the  United 
States  at  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War,  and  was 
wounded  five  times,  thrice  seriously.  He  entered  the 
regular  army  in  1866,  and  was  retired  in  ’71.  Before 
his  call  to  the  home  office,  he  had  served  the  Company 
as  special  agent,  with  headquarters  at  Albany. 

November  80,  1892,  William  B.  Clark  was  elected 
President ;  and  December  7th,  Andrew  C.  Bayne, 
Vice-President;  James  F.  Dudley,  Secretary;  and 
William  H.  King  and  Egbert  O.  Weeks,  Assistant 
Secretaries. 

The  death  of  Captain  Bayne  brought  further  changes 
in  the  official  corps.  James  F.  Dudley  became  Vice- 
President ;  William  H.  King,  Secretary;  and  E.  O. 
Weeks  and  F.  W.  Jenness,  Assistant  Secretaries.  All 
these  gentlemen  were  veterans  in  the  service  of  the 
Company.  Seth  King,  father  of  William  H.,  was 


23 


Etna  Insurance  Company 


enrolled  in  1838,  and  for  ten  years  did  all  the  clerical 
work  in  the  office. 

President  Clark  was  born  in  Hartford,  June  29, 
1841.  His  father,  A.  N.  Clark,  was  manager  and  part 
owner  of  the  Courant  during  and  after  the  war.  The 
son,  after  serving  a  short  time  on  the  newspaper,  in 
1857  entered  the  office  of  the  Phoenix  Fire,  of  which  he 
became  Secretary  in  1863.  In  1867  he  resigned  to  take 
the  Assistant  Secretaryship  of  the  A Etna.  On  the  death 
of  Mr.  Hendee,  the  office  of  Vice-President,  created  in 
1853  for  Edwin  G.  Ripley,  and  after  his  promotion 
allowed  to  remain  vacant,  except  when  filled  for  a  brief 
interval  in  1862-63  by  Henry  Z.  Pratt,  was  revived  for 
Mr.  Clark.  Although  still  in  the  prime  of  life,  in  term 
of  service  he  is  the  oldest  insurance  official  in  the  city. 
He  has  served  as  an  Alderman,  and  on  the  Board  of 
Water  Commissioners,  and  as  a  Director  is  connected 
with  several  financial  and  benevolent  institutions  of 
the  city. 

James  F.  Dudley,  Vice-President,  was  born  in 
Hampden,  Me.,  February  1,  1841;  graduated  at  Bowdoin 
College ;  taught  a  while ;  for  several  years  conducted  a 
local  insurance  office  at  Bangor,  Me. ;  in  1874,  became 
special  agent  for  Pennsylvania  for  the  North  British 
and  Mercantile  Insurance  Company;  in  1876,  took  the 
special  agency  for  the  Etna  for  the  same  territory, 
and  later  for  New  York ;  in  1885,  returned  to  the  North 
British,  acting  as  assistant  manager  in  New  York  city, 
when  recalled  to  the  Etna  in  1888. 

William  H.  King,  Secretary,  both  by  inheritance 
and  association,  seems  to  be  almost  an  integral  part  of 
the  Etna.  His  father  was  connected  with  the  Company 
over  forty-four  years.  William  H.,  born  July  4,  1840, 
after  a  short  term  of  service  during  the  war  entered  the 
office  of  the  .Etna  in  1862,  becoming  Second  Assistant 
Secretary  in  1888,  First  Assistant  Secretary  in  1892,  and 


24 


A  Brief  Historical  Sketch 


Secretary  in  1893.  Declining  attractive  offers  to  go 
elsewhere,  he  has  remained  steadfast  in  attachment  to 
the  institution  to  which  his  life-work  has  been  devoted. 

Egbert  O.  Weeks,  Assistant  Secretary,  was  born  of 
New  England  parentage  in  Pennsylvania,  October 
28,  1847.  Beginning  his  work  in  insurance  with  the 
Wyoming  Company  of  Wilkes  Barre,  Penna.,  he  later 
became  special  agent  of  the  Lancashire,  and  of  the 
Liverpool  and  London  and  Globe.  In  May,  1883,  he 
entered  the  service  of  the  ^Etna,  with  office  at  Wilkes 
Barre.  In  1889  he  moved  to  Philadelphia,  taking 
supervision  of  Pennsylvania,  Delaware,  Maryland,  West 
Virginia  and  the  District  of  Columbia.  He  was  one  of 
the  founders  of  the  Underwriters’  Association  of  the 
Middle  Department,  serving  almost  continuously  upon 
its  Executive  Committee,  and  as  President  one  term. 
He  was  called  to  the  home  office  in  December,  1892. 
On  the  death  of  Vice-President  Dudley,  which  occurred 
suddenly  at  New  Orleans  on  the  19th  of  March,  1897, 
Mr.  Weeks  was  elected  a  Director  and  Vice-President, 
and  filled  these  offices  most  satisfactorily  until  his 
decease,  which  occurred  on  the  31st  of  October,  1902. 

The  promotion  of  Mr.  Weeks  to  the  Vice- Presidency, 
and  Mr.  Jenness  having  resigned  and  returned  to  the 
New  York  field,  left  the  Company  without  Assistant 
Secretaries,  and,  on  the  recommendation  of  the  officers, 
the  Directors  unanimously  elected  Alexander  C.  Adams 
of  Boston,  New  England  general  agent,  and  Henry  E. 
Rees  of  Atlanta,  Ga.,  Southern  special  agent,  Assistant 
Secretaries  on  the  7th  of  April,  1897. 

Mr.  Adams  is  a  native  of  Massachusetts.  He  was 
in  the  service  of  the  Howard  of  Boston  from  1865  to 
1872,  then  Assistant  Secretary  of  the  Globe  of  Boston 
until  1877.  In  that  year  he  received  the  appointment 
of  New  England  field  representative  of  the  Liverpool 
and  London  and  Globe.  He  served  in  that  capacity 


/Etna  Insurance  Company 

fourteen  years,  and  in  1891  transferred  his  allegiance 
to  this  Company. 

Mr.  Rees  is  a  native  of  Georgia,  and  at  the  time 
of  his  election  was  special  agent  of  this  Company  at 
Atlanta.  He  was  identified  with  the  North  British  and 
Mercantile  while  Mr.  Dudley  was  assistant  manager  of 
that  company  in  the  United  States. 

On  the  decease  of  Vice-President  Weeks,  Messrs. 
C.  J.  Irvin  of  Philadelphia,  special  agent  for  Eastern 
Pennsylvania,  and  A.  N.  Williams  of  Hartford,  special 
agent  for  Western  New  England,  were  elected  Assistant 
Secretaries. 

Dr.  Irvin  is  a  native  of  Pennsylvania,  and  had  a 
successful  career  as  an  underwriter  in  the  employ  of 
the  Fire  Association  and  the  Continental  Insurance 
Company  before  entering  the  service  of  this  Company. 

Mr.  Williams  is  a  Connecticut  native,  and  made  a 
record  for  himself  as  special  agent  of  the  Phoenix  and 
this  Company  before  becoming  an  officer. 

As  before  referred  to,  the  Company  established  a 
Western  Branch  at  Cincinnati  in  1858,  under  the  admin¬ 
istration  of  J.  B.  Bennett,  who  was  succeeded  by  his 
brother,  F.  C.  Bennett,  in  1870.  On  the  death  of  the 
latter,  in  May,  1897,  Messrs.  Keeler  and  Gallagher  were 
appointed  general  agents,  Mr.  Keeler  having  been  con¬ 
nected  with  the  Branch  from  boyhood,  and  Mr.  Gallagher 
having  been  one  of  the  Company’s  most  efficient  special 
agents  and  adjusters  in  New  York  State. 

The  Northwestern  Branch  was  established  in  1891  at 
Omaha,  Neb.  Mr.  Wm.  H.  Wyman  was  elected  general 
agent,  and  Mr.  W.  P.  Harford,  assistant  general  agent — 
both  gentlemen  long  in  the  service  of  the  Company. 
Mr.  Wyman,  September  15,  1904,  celebrated  the  fiftieth 
anniversary  of  his  connection  with  the  JEtna,  and  the 
occasion  was  remembered  by  the  presentation  by  the 
Directors  and  Officers  of  a  silver  loving-cup. 


26 


A  Brief  Historical  Sketch 


The  Pacific  Branch  was  established  at  San  Francisco 
in  1866,  and  has  been  ably  conducted  for  thirty-seven 
years  by  Geo.  C.  Boardman,  general  agent,  and  later 
by  Boardman  and  Spencer,  general  agents. 

For  many  years  a  branch  office  was  maintained  at 
Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  under  the  management  of  Captain  E.  P. 
Dorr,  general  agent ;  and  later,  Oscar  T.  Flint,  general 
agent,  for  the  conduct  of  the  Inland  Marine  business. 
The  Lake  business  is  now  under  the  control  of  the 
Chicago  general  agents,  Messrs.  Gadsden  and  Kohtz, 
and  the  Coast  and  Harbor  business  is  transacted  through 
local  agents,  reporting  direct  to  the  Home  Office  of 
the  Company. 


i 


27 


Jl 


. 


* 

OFFICE  OF  THE  /ETNA  INSURANCE  COMPANY 

ERECTED  1903-1905 


BENJAMIN  WISTAR  MORRIS,  Jr.,  Architect 
NEW  YORK 


NEW  FIREPROOF  OFFICE  BUILDING 


N  view  of  the  fact  that  the  Company  had 
outgrown  the  building  used  by  it  since 
1867,  and  not  being  of  fireproof  construction, 
and  also  not  adapted  to  modern  methods 
of  conducting  the  business,  it  was,  after 
six  months’  careful  consideration,  voted  by 
the  Board  of  Directors,  on  the  third  day  of 
December,  1902,  to  construct  a  new  fireproof  building, 
occupying  the  site  of  the  old  office  and  the  building  on 
the  north,  occupied  by  the  Republican  Club,  which  the 
Company  had  purchased  several  years  previously. 

A  Building  Committee  of  five  was  chosen  by  the 
Board,  consisting  of  Messrs.  Francis  Goodwin,  Chas. 
E.  Gross,  Jas.  H.  Knight,  and  the  President  and 
Secretary  of  the  Company.  After  investigation,  it  was 
concluded  to  engage  Mr.  Benjamin  Wistar  Morris,  Jr., 
of  No.  5  West  81st  street,  New  York,  as  the  Architect, 
and  this  occasion  is  taken  to  commend  most  heartily  his 
services  in  behalf  of  the  Company.  In  the  meantime  the 
Company  took  a  two  years’  lease  of  temporary  quarters 
in  the  Connecticut  Mutual  Life  Insurance  Company’s 
building,  and  in  May,  1903,  the  razing  of  the  old  build¬ 
ing  was  commenced.  When  the  concrete  foundation 
for  the  cellar  walls  was  completed,  the  first  two  bricks 
were  laid  by  the  President  in  the  presence  of  the  full 
official  force  of  the  Company.  From  that  time  on, 
steady  progress  was  made,  interrupted  only  by  the 
severity  of  the  weather  during  the  winter  of  1903-04. 

The  building  has  a  frontage  of  94j£  feet,  and  is  165 
feet  in  depth,  five  stories  in  height.  Granite,  limestone, 


29 


/Etna  Insurance  Company 


brick  and  iron  construction,  with  tile  roof  and  steel 
roller  shutters  on  exposed  sides,  in  fact  as  nearly  fire¬ 
proof  as  human  ingenuity  can  devise.  The  main  or 
street  floor  is  occupied  by  the  Local  Agency,  bicycle 
and  wardrobe  rooms  and  the  printing  office  of  the 
Company.  The  second  floor  front,  by  the  Directors’ 
room,  President  and  Secretary’s  offices,  and  the  main 
office,  “two  stories  in  one,”  80x100  feet,  a  commanding 
room,  probably  not  excelled  by  any  office  in  this 
country.  The  third  floor  front,  by  bookkeepers,  classi¬ 
fication  clerks,  stenographers  and  special  agents.  The 
fourth  floor  is  reserved  for  the  future  growth  of  the 
business  of  the  Company.  The  fifth  floor  contains  the 
lunch  rooms  and  kitchen,  and  an  immense  filing  room, 
which  will  no  doubt  answer  the  purposes  for  which  it  is 
designed  for  a  hundred  years  to  come. 

The  main  office  room  referred  to  (80x100  feet)  is 
fitted  almost  entirely  with  metal  fireproof  furniture  from 
the  Art  Metal  Construction  Co.  of  Jamestown,  N.  Y. 

P.  S. —  In  closing  this  Brief  History  we  announce 
the  gradual  moving  to  our  new  office,  and  expect  to 
be  fully  installed  on  or  before  June  first. 


30 


LARGE  FIRES  AND  AMOUNTS  PAID  BY  THE  /4ETNA 


1839 

RICHMOND,  VA.,  .  .  .  $15,000 

STONINGTON,  CONN.,  24,000 
ST.  JOHN,  N.  B .  33,500 


NEW  YORK  CITY  (Oct.),  45,000 

NEW  YORK  CITY  (Dec.),  12,000 

1840 


WILMINGTON,  N.  C.,  . 
NEW  YORK  CITY,  .  . 
ITHACA,  N.  Y.,  .  .  , 

PATERSON,  N.  J.,  .  . 

28,000 

12,000 

11,000 

13,000 

1845 

NEW  YORK  CITY,  .  . 

120,000 

1846 

ST.  JOHNS,  N.  F.,  .  , 

77,000 

1849 

ST.  LOUIS,  MO.,  .  .  . 

125,000 

1852 

MONTREAL,  CAN.,  .  . 
CHILLICOTHE,  O.,  .  . 

105,000 
.  114,000 

1866 

PORTLAND,  ME.,  .  . 

170,000 

1867 

VICKSBURG,  MISS.,  .  . 

110,000 

1871 

CHICAGO,  ILLS., 

3,782,000 

1872 

BOSTON,  MASS.,  .  . 

1,635,000 

1874 

CHICAGO,  ILLS.,  .  .  . 

95,000 

1875 

OSHKOSH,  WIS . 

VIRGINIA  CITY,  NEV., 

66,000 

72,000 

1878 

ST.  JOHN,  N.  B.,  .  .  . 

262,000 

1880 

MILTON,  PENNA.,  .  . 

80,000 

1882 

HAVERHILL,  MASS.,  . 

1888-89 

BUFFALO,  N.  Y.,  .  . 

1889 

NEW  YORK  CITY,  .  . 
ELLENSBURG,  WASH., 
SEATTLE,  WASH.,  .  . 
SPOKANE,  WASH.,  .  . 
LYNN,  MASS.,  .  .  .  . 
BOSTON,  MASS.,  .  .  . 

1891 

ST.  LOUIS,  MO.,  .  .  . 

1893 

BOSTON,  MASS.,  .  .  . 
FARGO,  N.  D.,  .  .  .  . 
MINNEAPOLIS,  MINN., 

1896 

ONTONAGON,  MICH.,  . 

1900 

BLOOMINGTON,  ILLS., 
OTTAWA,  CAN.,  .  .  . 
PRESCOTT,  ARIZONA, 
ASHLAND,  WIS.,  .  .  . 

1901 

JACKSONVILLE,  FLA., 

1902 

WATERBURY,  CONN., 
PATERSON,  N.  J.,  .  . 

1903 

CINCINNATI,  O.,  .  .  . 
ST.  JOSEPH,  MO.,  .  . 

1904 

BALTIMORE,  MD.,  .  . 
ROCHESTER,  N.  Y.,  . 

SIOUX  CITY,  IOWA,  . 
TORONTO,  CAN.,  .  . 


$54,000 


33,000 


16,000 

9,000 

59,000 

62,000 

92,000 

31,000 


13,000 


27,000 

27,000 

21,000 


12,000 


17,000 

198,000 

29,000 

12,000 


168,000 

19,000 

44,000 


20,000 

13,000 


727,000 

58,000 

13,000 

181,000 


CAPITAL  STOCK  OF  THE  /ETNA 


(1819) 

$150,000 

(1822) 

$200,000 

(1846) 

$250,000 

(1849) 

$300,000 

(1854) 

$500,000 

(1857) 

$1,000,000 

(1859) 

$1,500,000 

(1864) 

$2,250,000 

(1866) 

$3,000,000 

(1881) 

$4,000,000 


A  POEM 

Written  by  Benjamin  B.  Whittemore  on 
the  Occasion  of  the  Dedication  of  the  New 
Building  of  the  iEtna  Insurance  Company, 
Hartford,  Conne&icut,  June  the  eighth,  1905 


WHEN  ancient  Greece  arose  to  fame 

And  gave  the  world  her  classic  name, 
She,  early  to  her  service,  brought 
Her  men  of  philosophic  thought, 

Her  poets,  who  in  verse  have  told 
Of  all  her  gods  and  heroes  old, 

Her  sculptors,  by  whose  works  unsealed 
Her  very  self  has  been  revealed, 

Her  architects,  whose  genius  gave 
In  column,  frieze  and  architrave, 

Those  forms  of  beauty  which  outlast 
The  storms  of  ages  long  since  past, 

And  which,  in  ruins,  still  impart 
The  glories  of  Corinthian  art. 

’Tis  well  that  they  whose  wisdom  planned 
The  building  of  this  temple  grand, 

Did  choose  from  architectural  styles 
The  noblest  of  those  ancient  piles, 

Inwrought,  in  an  impressive  way 
With  ideals  of  a  later  day, 

And  that  the  structure,  thus  refined, 

Shows  strength  and  grandeur  well  combined. 


And  it  is  well  that  ’mid  these  walls, 

And  in  these  fair  and  ample  halls, 

A  noble  enterprise  should  come 
And  find  again  a  fitting  home. 

Unlike  the  Prodigal  of  old 
Whose  story  is  so  sadly  told, 

This  wand’rer  is  returning  now 
With  added  laurels  on  its  brow, 

And  finds  its  day  of  welcome  here, 

The  proudest  in  its  long  career. 

Conceived  in  philanthropic  vein, 

With  faith  in  fair  and  honest  gain, 

From  North  to  South,  from  East  to  West, 
Its  honored  service  is  confessed. 

Upon  its  records  there  appears 
The  story  of  those  many  years 
When  tried  by  fire  and  sorely  scourged, 
With  giant  strength  it  soon  emerged, 

And  with  new  courage  always  blessed, 

It  on  its  mission  bravely  pressed. 

Now,  sharer  in  this  rare  success, 

And  one  in  mutual  helpfulness, 

The  city  where  this  structure  stands 
A  retrospective  thought  commands, 

This  city  of  the  people’s  pride, 

So  famous  by  the  riverside. 

’Twas  here  the  Puritan  once  came 
And  left  the  impress  of  his  name. 

Here  Freedom  eloquently  spoke, 

Protected  by  the  Charter  Oak. 

Here,  patriotic  fires  have  burned, 

And  words  to  actions  have  been  turned, 


Here,  when  those  daring  men  and  wise 
Conceived  this  early  enterprise, 

Was  but  a  simple,  peaceful  town, 
Untouched  by  thought  of  great  renown. 
Behold,  now  in  these  later  years 
What  grand  development  appears 
In  industries  of  every  shade 
Redoubled  with  each  new  decade, 

Where  busy  wheels  so  blithely  sing, 

And  anvils  in  the  chorus  ring, 

While  busy  hands  are  daily  made 
Co-laborers  with  the  marts  of  trade. 

Then,  as  the  evidence  and  gift 
Of  strenuous  effort  and  of  thrift, 

Behold,  how  wealth  with  generous  thought 
Is  to  the  public  service  brought, 

How  Nature’s  charms  are  everywhere 
Made  lovelier  by  aesthetic  care, 

How  Education  bears  a  part 
In  forms  of  Labor  and  of  Art, 

All  serving  best  as  they  relate 
To  rendering  happier  man’s  estate. 

Now,  at  the  very  fountain  head 
Whence  all  this  flood  of  life  has  spread, 

In  undisputed  honor  lies 

This  most  distinguished  enterprise, 

Which,  with  its  neighbors  of  the  Guild 
An  all  important  role  has  filled, 
Contributing  financial  streams 
Beyond  the  wildest  of  their  dreams. 

Long  may  the  JEtna.  here  abide, 

Her  patrons’  comfort  and  their  pride, 

And  may  no  future  trials  cast 
A  shadow  on  its  glorious  past. 


Boston,  Mass. 
June  1,  1905 


